East coast city finds law enforcement merger tumultuous

Oct. 19, 2013

Lake Worth City Manager Susan Stanton / The Palm Beach Post

Written by

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw / Palm Beach Post

When there’s a New sheriff in town

Other cities that have contracted with their local sheriff’s office also show some of the problems that can crop up.

A new sheriff took over the Broward County Sheriff’s Office earlier this year. He informed the cities of Parkland, Cooper City, West Park, Pembroke Park, Oakland, Deerfield Beach and Dania Beach they were underpaying.

• Dania Beach City ManagerRobert Baldwin said the city was facing a 13.8 percent price increase. It took some negotiating, but they were able to cut $1.5 million from the proposed increase.

• Deerfield Beach’s finance staff is dissecting the contract to determine if costs are actual or inflated, said Rebecca Medina, city spokeswoman. The city signed the contract with the sheriff’s office in the meantime.

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A dwindling cash pot, demanding public safety unions and violent crime were threatening Lake Worth when it turned to the sheriff’s office for help.

Running the city departments was getting too expensive: Pensions and benefits had become a problem, and the commission was facing pressure from residents and political activists to fix it.

In its haste to address the city’s crime problem, the commission voted to enter a contract with the sheriff’s office, despite warnings the deal was too expensive and the city should bargain for a better contract. The measure passed on a 3-2 vote in 2008.

But the commission’s decision would later haunt them when Susan Stanton was hired to run the city. She felt Lake Worth was getting the same level of service another city the sheriff’s office covered, but Lake Worth was paying more.

The city was spending $14.6 million in law enforcement. By 2012, that number was expected to grow to $16.6 million and continue to balloon to $18.9 million by 2014. Stanton argued it was time to renegotiate the contract with the sheriff’s office.

“People in the cities are already paying toward those services and most people just don’t understand that,” Stanton said. “They are being arbitrarily held by an elected public-safety official. It’s a huge show game that is politicized by the elected sheriff.”

She ordered a feasibility study that cost the city nearly $40,000 and was criticized for it. Among the study’s findings was a report that even if the city raised the tax rate to the maximum allowed by the state, the city could not keep up with price increases of the sheriff’s office.

The study also showed with $10 million, the city could have its own Police Department; cash would be saved by hiring trained civilian employees to write reports of cold call incidents, respond to noninjury crashes and follow up on investigations that did not require search warrants or an arrest. Plus, volunteers could staff the front desk, perform parking enforcement and other duties.

Stanton asked Bradshaw for a new, cheaper contract. She argued the sheriff’s office was misrepresenting costs. The city should get credit for the access it had to the sheriff’s office resources, paid for by county tax dollars, Stanton said.

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The cuts, Bradshaw argued, would place people’s lives at risk. Plus, it was hard to argue with a person who is often the most popular elected official.

But the argument wasn’t over who was more popular, said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who kept all of the city’s officers. It was about how her requests were outrageous and unrealistic.

“We’ll make as many budget cuts as we can, but I’m not going to reduce the number of deputies on the road and place them in jeopardy,” Bradshaw said. “If I’m popular it’s because I’m doing a good job.”

Ultimately, Lake Worth’s bill was cut by nearly $2 million by shaving supervisor positions and combining other positions. The savings, however, came at a cost for Stanton, who angered scores of residents who flooded the City Council’s chambers during talks of potentially having the city break its contract with the sheriff’s office.

She was fired in December 2011, after newly elected council members sided with an angered vice mayor. Distrust and anger among city residents triggered their decision to terminate her contract, they said.

“The sheriff’s office is the most politicized form of government,” said Stanton, who now manages a city in California. “When you are taking on the sheriff’s office, you are pulling the cape of Superman.”